Last Wednesday, the following ‘letter to the editor’ appeared in Toronto’s Now Magazine: Disabled stay home I am a person with a disability who does not use Wheel-Trans, as others need it more and my needs have been better met by riding the subway, which is conveniently located half a block down my street. It’s […] More »

Everyone can think of something that would make their community, large or small, a better place to live: a crumbling building transformed into a rec centre, activities for the elderly, public art, or an urban garden. The Aviva Insurance Community Fund is going to make some of those ideas a reality next year. The $500,000 fund […] More »

The Hope in Shadows contest is changing perceptions of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) by giving residents an opportunity to document their stories through photographs. This year marks the seventh annual Hope in Shadows photography contest. Every June, around 200 free disposable cameras are distributed to DTES residents. Contestants are allotted three days to take pictures, […] More »

While cyclists in Toronto rallied to remember Darcy Allan Sheppard, the cyclist killed after allegedly being dragged along Bloor St.  by a car driven by former Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, another car accident was causing comparative degrees of outrage at the eastern edge of the country… and this one embodies my worst fear. More »

Dom and Shayna — the pair of cross-country travellers filing reports from their road trip in search of community — have posted a final batch of photos and an entry entitled “In Celebration of New Beginnings” over on the Alternate Routes blog. An exerpt: “… the people with whom we choose to interact and exchange […] More »

Dom and Shayna have reached Quebec as part of their summer-long road trip to explore the meaning of community in Canada, and this dispatch is part of their latest post on the Alternate Routes blog: At Maison Emmanuel, people with disabilities are encouraged to focus on their abilities by working in a variety of areas: […] More »

Shayna’s first entry from the road appears below. From here on in, she and Dominique will be posting directly to the Alternate Routes blog. Enjoy! We are somewhere in the middle of Quebec, on the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s about 10 p.m. We’ve been on the road since 8 this morning. We are looking for a […] More »

Throughout the summer, This Magazine is presenting a special blog chronicling the cross-Canada travels of Shayna and Dominique, a pair of wanderers who are setting out to discover what community is all about. Here, in their own words, is an introduction to the project: We are thinkers, dreamers and poets, continuously questioning our place in […] More »